Housing Authorities Win National Awards of Excellence 2016

Washington, D.C. (August 19, 2016) – The NAHRO Awards of Excellence program was created to give national recognition to NAHRO housing and community development member organizations that have found innovative ways of making a difference in the communities and the lives of the people they serve. Established in 1989, the NAHRO Award of Merit program has honored more than 6,000 programs.

“The NAHRO Awards of Excellence Program notifies the public of the virtuous work that NAHRO member organizations do for their residents and community. The award recognizes the innovative housing and community development projects, programs, and services that member organizations provide to make a difference in the lives they serve,” said NAHRO President Steve Merritt.

The Agency Awards Program is a two-tiered program consisting of the Awards of Merit and the Awards of Excellence. The first tier of the program, the Awards of Merit, are submitted to National NAHRO and sent to Regional Juries for review. NAHRO’s Awards of Merit recognize outstanding achievement in housing and community development programs in five categories. The second tier of the program, the Awards of Excellence, are selected from the Award of Merit winners nominated for an Award of Excellence by the Regional Juries. They are then sent to National Juries who may select up to 24 awards. This year out of the 90 entries nominated for the Awards of Excellence, only 20 were selected to receive this honor. The Awards of Excellence will be featured in upcoming articles in the Journal of Housing and Community Development.

“This program celebrates the accomplishments of services that our members do each and every day for their residents and community to ensure a safe and affordable place to call home. By awarding the efforts of housing agencies and agency officials through NAHRO’s Awards of Excellence,” said NAHRO Acting CEO John Bohm. “We hope that the general public, community leaders, private industry and government itself will become inspired to create, produce, and reform new and existing housing and community development programs to meet the housing necessities of our nation’s most vulnerable inhabitants.”

NAHRO, established in 1933, is a membership organization of 20,000 housing and community development agencies and professionals throughout the United States whose mission is to create affordable housing and safe, viable communities that enhance the quality of life for all Americans, especially those of low- and moderate-income. NAHRO's membership administers more than 3 million housing units for 7.6 million people.